Cops Eye Convicted Attacker in Levy Case

May 24, 2002

A man who attacked two women near where Chandra Levy's body was found in a Washington, D.C., park has been questioned by police and could be grilled again as investigators try to determine what happened to Levy.

Police have been scouring the area around where Levy's remains were found early Wednesday, just over a year after the former federal intern went missing. They have been looking for any kind of clue as to what happened, and say they still have not determined whether she died in the park or somewhere else.

The 24-year-old California native was last seen on April 30, 2001, and last heard from in an e-mail to her parents the following day.

Investigators are not yet treating the case as a homicide, and the cause of death is pending a coroner's investigation. All that was found of the woman was her skull, some bones and some of her jogging clothes.

But Billy Martin, one of the attorneys representing the Levy family, said today he believes Chandra was the victim of a homicide, and that he was confident the Metropolitan Police Department would find her killer. He said she was not a young woman who would "walk over to that park, fall down that hill and die."

"This is not an accident," he said. "Somebody did something to Chandra and we hope that we can find the person or persons
who've done that."

Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey said today on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America that investigators have spoken to a man named Ingmar Guandique, who is serving a 10-year prison term in connection with two attacks on women that occurred in the area of Rock Creek Park where Levy's remains were found.

Law enforcement sources told ABCNEWS that Guandique, 20, is likely to be questioned again, but Ramsey said today that any new conversation with the convict would come only after coroners made a determination about whether Levy was murdered.

"We have not gotten a ruling from the medical examiner as to cause [of death] yet," Ramsey said. "The presumption is made that this is a murder case. It may be, but we have not yet been officially informed of the circumstances around the death. If there is a need to re-interview, we will not leave any stone unturned in the investigation."

Guandique was first questioned in regard to the Levy case several months ago, after U.S. Park Police told Metropolitan Police that he had been arrested.

"He said nothing to implicate himself with her, but then again we didn't know she was in Rock Creek Park," Ramsey said
Thursday.

A Shallow Grave?

Washington medical examiner Dr. Jonathan Arden has declined to comment on the condition of the remains or what has been learned from them. He said it was unlikely there would be any determination as to cause of death until next week.

Though Ramsey refused to say whether there was anything to indicate that Levy was the victim of a crime, Deputy Police Chief Terrance Gainer told The Associated Press that her skull was "not in pristine condition." However, he said he could not determine whether the damage was done before or after Levy died.

Questions about the thoroughness of the original hunt for Levy, when investigators combed through Rock Creek Park a year ago, were raised again today when The Washington Post reported that the site where the remains were found was overlooked in a gap between two sweeps through the dense woods.